What the Paper Said

In this episode – 12 April 1925 – we learn why the Elgin Marbles should remain in Britain while the pound should remain off the Gold Standard. French drivers get better but French students and French politicians do not. An incorrigible rogue gets his comeuppance while a failed Field Marshal gets anything but. And the world says its goodbyes to a Russian Patriarch, the English Grand Jury and the Oxford boat.

The downside of the universal franchise In this episode we learn about the downside of the universal franchise and the downside of being a husband. A revolutionary new technology gets shown off in a department store while a revolutionary old technology gets a tasteful new home. We learn about the hidden dangers of cricket. The Europeans take on the Americans while the Americans take on Darwin. Neither go well. Bavarians decide that the best way to preserve freedom is to end it – at least in Hitler’s case. And Arabs decide that the best way to preserve an Arab Palestine is “sulky obstruction”. Meanwhile we learn about the number of London buses and a very, very big fraud.

In this episode – 22 March 1925 – we find out what happened when a coal mine closed. It’s not good. Especially, when there’s a new source of energy from far, far away. A couple of prominent people died this week and hundreds of not very prominent people died in the United States. A communist is kidnapped but no one knows who by. My money’s on Ukrainians who have every reason to dislike communists. Madam Tussaud’s suffers a terrible fire but they’d better not rebuild in fireproof steel – the unions wouldn’t like that. Another venerable institution that they’re trying to rebuild is the gold standard. But not if Mr Keynes has anything to do with it.

A catch up of some of what’s featured in the pages of The Times of 1925 since the last episode.

In this episode – 1 February 1925 – we find that some people are in a bit of a tizzy over nightclubs. It turns out for the first and only time in history young people are staying up late to drink and dance. Luckily the London Public Morality Council is on the case. We also learn how America is seeking to corrupt the fine, upstanding if a bit dour denizens of Canada with “luxuries and attractions”. In the news its good news – of a kind – for Herbert Asquith and St Paul’s and Trotsky. But it’s bad news for me and the Irish potato. And what are we to make of London’s attempt at giving itself a motto and Britain’s exceptionally high rainfall?